Cornelius the Centurion – Acts 10

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Chapter 10 opens with a bit about Cornelius of Caesarea. He was a Gentile soldier in an Italian cohort — a centurion. A cohort could be as large as from 600 – 1000 men, with 6 centurions in charge. A centurion was paid anywhere from 5 to as much as 20 times as much as the average Roman soldier, so Cornelius was likely considered wealthy. Identified in several verses as a God-fearer, he would have been attached to a synagogue and a believer in God, but not circumcised.

In verse three, an angel came to him in a vision, telling him to send people to Joppa to have Peter brought to him. Peter had stopped in Joppa where he had raised Tabitha from the dead. Afterward, he had stayed with a man named Simon who was a Tanner that lived by the sea. Cornelius sent two of his servants and one of the soldiers who attended him personally. Verse 7 says that the soldier was “devout.” Undoubtedly, this was due to some extent, to the influence of Cornelius.